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Transfer your domain registration from Bluehost to SiteGround

A registrar transfer changes which company holds the registration and bills you for it. It moves no files, no email and no DNS records, and your site stays exactly where it is throughout.

Worth saying plainly: this is the least necessary task on the page. SiteGround is a hosting company that also handles domains, and there is no technical benefit to consolidating them. Plenty of well-run sites keep the domain at one company and the hosting at another on purpose.

If you do want it, note that SiteGround allows up to 14 days for a transfer to complete — considerably longer than the 5–7 days most registrars quote — and adds its own eligibility rule about how close the domain is to expiry.

Hands-on time
20 minutes of work
Start to finish
Up to 14 days
Difficulty
Easy
Steps
6

Downtime risk: None if nameservers are left alone. The transfer preserves your existing DNS delegation.

Can I do just this, and nothing else?

Yes — this works on its own

Yes, and this is the task most safely done entirely on its own. A registrar transfer is a billing and ownership change. Your website does not move, your email does not move, and DNS keeps resolving exactly as it did — the transfer deliberately preserves the existing nameserver settings.

What changes

  • SiteGround bills you for the domain instead of Bluehost
  • You manage the domain from the SiteGround Client Area
  • Renewal pricing becomes SiteGround's

What stays exactly as it is

  • The website stays on whatever server it is on now
  • Email keeps working, untouched
  • Nameservers and every DNS record carry across unchanged
  • There is no downtime and visitors notice nothing

Before doing domain registrar on its own: The eligibility rules: registered more than 60 days ago, more than 10 days before it expires, and unlocked at Bluehost with a valid EPP code.

Before you start

  • The domain registered more than 60 days ago and not transferred in the last 60 days
  • More than 10 days remaining before the domain expires
  • No registrant contact change at Bluehost in the last 60 days
  • Access to the administrative email address on the domain
  • A gTLD such as .com, .org, .net, .biz or .info — country-code domains follow separate rules

Step-by-step

Each step is labelled with which side you are working on, so you always know whether you should be signed in to Bluehost or SiteGround.

  1. 1On your computer

    Check eligibility before you start

    SiteGround adds an expiry rule on top of the usual ICANN ones, and it is the sort of thing that fails a transfer late rather than early.

    • Registered more than 60 days ago, and not transferred in the last 60 days
    • More than 10 days before expiry — renew first if you are closer than that
    • Status must be Active rather than Locked
    • Country-code domains have their own rules and may not be supported
    Check status and dates
    whois example.com | grep -i -E 'creation|expiry|expiration|status'
  2. 2At Bluehost

    Confirm the registrant email is one you can read

    Bluehost emails the EPP code to the registrant address, and SiteGround will ask you to confirm you can access the administrative email. If that address is stale, fix it now — and accept that doing so may start its own 60-day lock.

    • Bluehost portal → Domains → Contacts tab
    • Use an address that is not on the domain you are moving
    • If the address is already fine, change nothing
  3. 3At Bluehost

    Unlock the domain at Bluehost

    Domains are locked by default to prevent unauthorised transfers. Unlocking is instant and has no effect on your live website or email.

    • Bluehost portal → Domains → select the domain
    • Toggle Domain Lock off
    • Confirm in WHOIS that the status has moved away from clientTransferProhibited
  4. 4At Bluehost

    Request the EPP code from Bluehost

    Bluehost emails the code rather than showing it on screen, and builds in a security delay.

    • Bluehost portal → Domains → the Move & Access tab → Request Auth Code
    • The code is sent to the registrant email address
    • Allow up to 24 hours; that delay is deliberate, not a fault
    • The code is case- and character-sensitive
  5. 5At SiteGround

    Start the transfer in the SiteGround Client Area

    SiteGround checks eligibility first and tells you what is wrong before taking the code, which is a friendlier order than registrars that take payment first.

    • SiteGround Client Area → Services → Domains → Transfer
    • Click Check Status and let it verify the domain meets the requirements
    • Enter the EPP code
    • Confirm you can access the administrative email address
    • Review the domain owner details and update if needed, then submit
  6. 6Either side

    Confirm the transfer and wait

    Both registrars send confirmation email. Approving the release at the Bluehost end is what actually speeds things up.

    • Watch the registrant email for messages from both sides
    • SiteGround allows up to 14 days for completion
    • You get a welcome email when it lands
    • If the EPP code was wrong, the transfer can be restarted rather than begun again from scratch

What goes wrong

The failures that actually happen on this step, rather than a generic warning to be careful.

  • SiteGround allows up to 14 days, not the usual 5–7

    Can cause delays

    Most registrars quote five to seven days and often finish sooner. SiteGround documents up to fourteen. That is not a fault, but it does mean you should not schedule anything around the transfer completing quickly — and definitely should not start one close to expiry.

  • The 10-day expiry rule catches people out

    Can cause downtime

    On top of the standard 60-day rules, SiteGround requires more than ten days before the domain expires. Combined with a transfer window of up to fourteen days, a domain that is nearly due is a bad candidate. Renew at Bluehost first — the remaining time carries across, so nothing is wasted.

  • Changing contact details can lock the domain for 60 days

    Can cause downtime

    The most avoidable failure in any registrar transfer. Someone updates the registrant email so they can receive the auth code, and that change starts a fresh 60-day transfer lock — turning a one-week job into a two-month wait. If the address on file is readable, leave it alone. Do contact tidying after the transfer, not before.

  • The auth code is character-exact

    Can cause delays

    Auth codes contain punctuation that is easy to mangle, and a trailing space picked up by copy-paste is enough to have it rejected. If the code is refused and you are sure it is right, look for whitespace at either end before assuming the code itself is wrong.

  • Transferring the domain does not move your website

    Can cause downtime

    This is the single biggest misconception about registrar transfers. Afterwards the new registrar bills you for the domain and your website is still sitting on the old host's servers. If you then cancel that hosting, the site goes offline — the domain transfer did nothing to prevent it.

How to check it worked

Do not rely on the site looking fine in your own browser — it caches, and it will tell you what you want to hear.

  • The domain appears in your SiteGround account
  • Public WHOIS lists SiteGround as the sponsoring registrar
  • The expiry date is one year further out than before
  • Nameservers are still whatever they were, and the site is still up
  • Auto-renew is enabled and billing details are correct

If it goes wrong

There is no undo once a transfer completes, and the 60-day lock means you cannot transfer straight back. The safety net is earlier: check eligibility and the registrant email before you start.

Questions about this step

How long does a Bluehost to SiteGround transfer take?

SiteGround allows up to 14 days. Approving the confirmation email from the Bluehost side speeds it up considerably, but plan for the longer figure — and add up to 24 hours before that for Bluehost to email you the EPP code.

Should I move my domain to SiteGround at all?

There is no technical reason to. SiteGround hosts your site perfectly well with the domain registered elsewhere, and keeping them apart means one billing problem cannot take down both. Consolidate only if having a single invoice genuinely makes your life easier.

Will my website go down during the transfer?

Not if you leave the nameservers alone. A registrar transfer preserves the existing delegation, so DNS keeps resolving to the same place throughout and visitors notice nothing.

Why can't I transfer my domain?

In order of likelihood: it has been registered or transferred within the last 60 days; the registrant contact details were changed within the last 60 days; the domain is still locked; the auth code is wrong or expired; or the domain is too close to expiry. WHOIS status codes will usually tell you which.

What if I entered the wrong EPP code?

SiteGround documents restarting a failed transfer rather than making you begin from scratch, which is more forgiving than most. Check for a trailing space from copy-paste before assuming the code itself is wrong.

Reference documentation

Provider interfaces change. When these steps and the official documentation disagree, the documentation wins.

Only if you are doing the full move

Stuck on this step?

Send me the domain and what you have tried. I do Bluehost to SiteGround moves regularly and can tell you what is actually blocking it.

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